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ModWright Tube Buffer

Does anyone have any experience with the ModWright Analog Bridge Tube Buffer? I'm thinking about adding it between my Musician Pegasus R2R dac and a Yamaha A-S1200, but am a little put off by the price (~ $3,000 used) considering it's nearly as much as the Yamaha.

I'm generally satisfied with the Yamaha/Pegasus combination, but miss the tube flavor that used to power my Klipsch Cornwall IVs. I've contemplated returning to a full tube amp, but I really don't want to deal with the revolving door of tube replacement (I put a lot of hours per week on my system). 

Thanks for your thoughts.

br3
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,920 posts
 

dan’s unit is no doubt well built but as mentioned above it is quite pricey and maybe overkill for what it does sonically

steve deckert's z-stage (decware) is a functionally equivalent unit for much lower cost and complexity

not cheap, but a lot cheaper than the modwright unit

fastfreight
1,279 posts
 

These tube buffer units intrigue me  I have a very nice SS preamp and am probably silly to even consider it.  But, if  were to try one, just to play with tube warmth etc, I would want a switch to bypass the tube unit completely.  Does the ModWright do this?  the Decware z-stage does not seem to.

slaw's avatar
slaw
26,476 posts
 

I think their "Analogue Bridge" marketing phrase is genius, but does it earn it's keep?

br3's avatar
br3 OP
7 posts
 

@fastfreight Yes, the ModWright has a toggle switch on the front of the unit to switch between buffer stage and non-buffer.

 

buellrider97's avatar
buellrider97
944 posts
 

I can’t answer directly as I’ve not owned one. But if you buy one used ( $2500 single ended / $3000 balanced ) it is not cost effective. Plus they have JJ tubes and you’ll probably drop another $500 tube rolling plus an extra pair of interconnects and a power cord. If I were in your position I’d buy a nice tube integrated amp like a Prima Luna or a Rogue ( Rogue is more SS sounding ) or one of the dozen nice integrated amps at the $3-4K used range. Or sell the Yamaha and get a used Coda or Luxman integrated. I think you’d be happier in the long run. Now if you can get a tube buffer for under $1K that would be worth considering. Cheers , Mike B. 

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